Ludington City Council Meeting 11-10-2014: Lady's Night Out

[XLFD]

When the Mayor brought down the gavel to start this day's city council meeting the panel of city officials was missing three distaff members of Ludington government on their left side.  Treasurer Jennifer Christensen and Councilors Kaye Holman and Kathy Winczewski were absent, which was surprising because rarely are they absent otherwise.  Except for City Clerk Deb Luskin, who sits opposite the police chief and outside the video camera's scope, the nine officials present this evening had Y-chromosomes. 

 

Chances are, they may have skipped this meeting for a quilting bee because there was little to be done at the meeting that would last less than 20 minutes.  A sparse agenda was made sparser when the mayor clipped off approving a bid on work to be done at the proposed Maritime Museum, meaning that a meeting earlier that afternoon between the city council's Parks Committee and the Mason County Historical Society led to an impasse over accepting a $1.184 million bid for interior work to be done. 

 

 

At about 9:15 into the meeting City Manager John Shay gave the budget message, you can access that budget through this .pdf starting on page 20.  It is worth listening to and looking at, as the city prepares to spend several million dollars on their neglected sewer infrastructure and prepares to hire someone to conduct rental property inspections in a way that will probably violate the rights of tenants and landlords.  Don't worry, they plan on adding costs to your water and sewer bill to defray the costs.

 

They will have a public hearing at the November 24, 2014 meeting on the budget, and will likely pass the budget thereafter.  They do not have to give final approval until the last meeting of December. 

 

The only other actions the council performed were first to notify the public that they would be releasing more detailed accounts of their proposed charter amendments, and their reasons for doing them.  This should be entertaining reading, since every one of the seven proposals seem to work against the public interest at face value. 

 

Secondly, they appointed the new, and city-charter-illegitimate, Councilor Michael Krauch, to represent the City of Ludington in the West Michigan Regional Shoreline Development Commission, replacing Wanda Marrison.  This dubious honor (even Councilor Castonia jokes about it) may someday help our city, but I can't trace any significant sign of that yet occurring, just a periodic donation of our tax dollars to WMRSDC administrators.

 

Once again I was the only one with a public comment (3:00 in) and inadvertently left my name and address off after giving a shout out to our veterans (it was Veteran's Day Observed, real Veteran's Day is today-- thanks to everyone who has served and is serving their country in the armed forces, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice).   

 

My speech was simple and was slightly less than four minutes.  I wanted to concentrate on an issue that I brought up at the last two meetings, only for it to be ignored by them and the local media.  It is an important issue, that should either be admitted publicly or denied by the accused.  Our contractors wearing suits and ties who represent us legally need to be held to a professional and public standard. 

 

Once again, however, City Attorney Richard M. Wilson remained mute to the charges, although he did have a noticeable red flush on his face during and shortly after the comment.  Poor guy has to either fabricate some story to try and explain why all those records charged the City taxpayers too much (and often for questionable services) or admit to the impropriety.  To most folks, his inability to admit his mistake and publicly tell us how he plans to correct it is a major character flaw that shouldn't be part of someone who represents the City of Ludington as their City Attorney. 

 

 

 

November 10, 2014 Ludington City Council from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

 

First off, let me give a shout out to the veterans for their day. 

 

Let me begin by congratulating the City Manager and his budget preparing team for having the budget and budget message available today, the first meeting in November, as it mandates In the city charter.  As you may remember, I addressed this body early in December 2013 and chided the city for violating several sections of the charter as regards the budget, by having it only publicly available on the day before Thanksgiving and the day of the meeting where it was adopted. 

 

This was a pattern of late budget preparation that had been practiced for each of the nine years after Manager Shay's initial year in office, so hopefully this year will be the first of many to come for budget timeliness and transparency.  The public deserves the ability to look at and give input into the budget process, if they so desire, not just have this council pass uninspected budgets right after the manager's budget message. 

 

The only other item I wish to comment on tonight is the same item I have presented among others over the last two meetings, and the city council, the city manager, and the city attorney have not bothered to respond to the public about the problem.  The City's law firm from Manistee, originally Gockerman, Wilson, Saylor and Hesslin, who now serve under the Grand Rapids law firm, Mika Meyers, Beckett, and Jones, overbilled the city at rates up to $145 per hour over their contracted rates set in agreement to the City of Ludington for special projects. 

 

I have dozens of records showing this illegal overbilling which shows that City Attorney Richard Wilson always billed over the agreed-to $185 per hour rate for at least the period between 2011 and 2013.  That City Attorney George V. Saylor III, who also serves as Manistee's City Attorney, charged the city at a rate of $330 per hour for his services to the city submitted by Attorney Wilson to City manager Shay who signed all of the invoices among my records.  All parties were surely aware that the attorneys could only charge $185 per hour.  Perhaps this unlawful behavior was part of why George V Saylor III lost the 19th Circuit Court judgeship with under 40% of the vote even though he had more and wider experience than his opponent. 

 

Presumably, the city council's finance committee must admit their own culpability for overlooking these overbillings in this three year period, okaying this act of public extortion when they paid the bills over a period of 70 plus meetings where this scheme was practiced.   Your committee should have also noticed that the city attorney's billing invoices included compensation for many thousands of dollars to a third party agency never hired by the city, but working on behalf of the city, getting paid by Attorney Wilson, who then got repaid by this City. 

 

So as public servants, continue ignoring the obvious ethical implications of your city attorney's actions, absolve them of having to create a defense for the indefensible behavior, and remain quiet.  City Attorney Wilson has already taken that tact twice when this criminal behavior was pointed out.  He has that right by the Constitution, but it doesn't serve the public when he is supposedly acting for them.  

 

The silence by the rest of you, including the reporting media, only illustrates better the contempt you have for the people of this city forced to pay the attorney bills for their services-- and whatever other charge the contracted Manistee attorneys want to throw in. 

[AQUAMAN]

The "Cat's Got CA WIlson's Tongue this time".....or should I say again, for six weeks straight now. I do see Shyster Shay taking notes for his cohort this time....even after repeatedly drinking that gin tonic on his desk again. (Never do see a pitcher of water nearby, do you?) Got a great idea for the Shyster: why not use the same old trick of a couple meetings back? You know, say the overpaid fees and such are being kept in some invented "fiduciary account" never before known or seen by the public. Also, have some innocent crony come up from the audience and admit collecting donations for such and so. This way the public can feel secure and happy with the expenditures as being all up and up. Riiiiiiiiight!  You can quit blushing all red for 15 minutes Tricky Dick, I just got you another ticket to get out of jail, but don't pass GO quite yet! X, your oration and comments are unsurpassed in excellence. Next time bring the invoice copies of the charges and pass them out to the public and councilors, if they wish to have proofs. Maybe one of those "power point" presentations is in order now....lol. 

[XLFD]

And even though I included the city council and the 'reporting media' as enablers for Attorney Wilson's and Saylor's cheating ways, there was nary a peep out of those parties in defense of their legal boys or assaulting the integrity and veracity of me or my information.  I expect to reveal more about this at the next meeting, Aquaman.

This included yesterday's COLDNews where Kevin Braciszewski reports on the meeting as if he was fed a news release from the city, avoiding any interesting parts of Shay's budget (the anticipated $8 million in wastewater treatment plant 'upgrades' and the $30,000+ to be used for an anticipated rental inspection ordinance) and Councilor Rathsack's announcement of the new way they are going to market their lame charter proposals in the coming year.

[Willy]

I agree with Aquaman. Excellent work X. I'm just waiting to see what story they come up with. I'm curious to see how the new Councilor Michael Krauch reacts to this. If he has any ethical fortitude he would check into your information and report back to you what he uncovers because after all the citizen who is questioning the payments to the City attorney is from his district.

[AQUAMAN]

Shay on budget: cool, calm, low toned, and sly in delivery: crying again for more money, never have enough! Well, let's take a look at the COL cash reserves. As of 2011 per the trial balance, there was well over $7 Million in overtaxed hoarded money sitting in bank accounts collecting paltry interest. (Notice Shay himself said interest on accounts, NOT RESERVES, went down from $150K to less than half, at 1/4 of 1% interest accruing, do the math.) That reserve likely has grown to $9-10 Million by now, in spite of low interest rates. Spend your reserves COL, and quit whining about no moneys. Then Shay says the DEQ renewal permit for sewer plant discharging needs an $80K correction to fix it. Quit crying again, spend that overtaxed hoarded money for what it's intended, infrastructure and good maintenance. Or will the DEQ rollover for the COL and cover their butts? That COL sewage plant dumped over 1 million gallons or more raw sewage into the PM Lake when we had that big flood/rain about 6-7 years ago, remember? The lake turned brown for 3 weeks. Result? Absolutely no fines, no shutdown of the plant, no nothing! People on and around the PM Lake had to just put up with it, until mother nature cleared the contamination. Even the Mason County Health Dept. issued written signage distributed on private and public facilities on the water, for dangerous conditions of swimming, washing hands, washing boats, and keeping strictly clear of the water at all times until further notice. What the Shyster doesn't say is that the interest on the hoarded moneys is what's paying for maintenance and improvements, not the principal moneys collected by your assessor for the very purpose of using for city expenses. That is just wrong! The money is there, it's overtaxation to the locals that made it possible to begin with, use it and quite hoarding the taxpayers funds!!! And fix the streets too that haven't got real good paving in many decades, except where the tourists drive. 

[XLFD]

In all the years, I've been following the Ludington City Council, they have never even considered a tax or rate decrease, apparently their concern is that the growing amount of money they get each year needs to be spent in total, whether it be for $1.5 million in useless water tower and tank painting or $500,000 to build an obnoxious transient dock in the city marina (plus $500,000 from the state DNR) or the many other projects they envision for the west end of Ludington Avenue.

I grow more convinced each month that the city council loves John Shay because he can glibly handle the media and the various state agencies who talk with him about Ludington's irregularities. 

[XLFD]

For the record, Willy, I am not from the Fourth Ward, although I have several friends and some family from that ward, and if memory serves me correctly, I fared best in that ward back in the 2011 election among all Ludington wards. 

I do believe the Fourth Ward is frequently overlooked and maligned by city hall policy, and as far as I'm concerned in my heart "I am a Fourth Warder", but electoral geography doesn't agree.  I'm in the Third Ward with the downtown and southwest portion of the city.

[XLFD]

Here's a story that warrants its own feature in the COLDNews and the Mason County Press, followed by a lesson on equal justice under law:

LUDINGTON — A 17-year-old Ludington man pleaded guilty to larceny of a church today in 51st Circuit Court. Marek Juergen Witkowski, of 633 Brigham, Plainwell, was arrested Sept. 26 by Ludington Police Dept. for the felonies of safe breaking and larceny. Safe breaking is punishable by a maximum of life in prison while larceny of a building is punishable by up to four years in prison.

Witkowski told the court he was cleaning Greater Life Church, 208 S. James St., when he decided to break into the safe. He said he knew where the key to the safe was kept and he took about $500. He then deposited the money into his bank account and spent it.

Witkowski was offered a plea agreement by Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola to one year of jail, spending the first 90 days up front and the remainder at the court’s discretion, and paying restitution to the church for $1,230.91. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 16 at 2 p.m.

While $500 does sound like a bunch of money, almost enough to pay a month's rent, let's compare crimes done by this cad to the crimes done by our city attorneys .  Young Marek Witkowski knew where the key was to open into the church safe and make off with the people's voluntary donations.   Wilson and Saylor knew the key was a complicit John Shay willing to sign three years of overbilled invoices to give them thousands of dollars belonging to the people thinking they were paying for city services and other legitimate expenditures with involuntary donations set by the city's ever-increasing tax and fee schedules. 

Witkowski gets the threat of life imprisonment for his crime then gets a year in jail, Shay gets his annual increases in pay and benefits, the city attorney's get more and more work to fend off the "vexatious FOIA requests" at a higher rate than allowed by contract.  A poor decision by a young kid who probably needed some extra money needs to be punished severely, then let's hold to account grown, cunning adults who are in a position of trust and do the same things at a grander scale even though they are well paid for their jobs.

[Willy]

This is a confusing article by the Mason County Press. First of all a 17 year old is not a "man" and how can you be charged with "safe breaking" when access was gained with a key. Does this life in prison sentence for "safe breaking" extend to a safe in a private residence? I wish MCP would expand a little more with information that explains some of the facts related to the articles they write.

This of course represents the double standard that exists when dealing with crimes committed by  common people vs. public officials. I wonder if Wilson, Saylor and Shay would be considered "men" by the MPC if this article was written about their activities in dealing with City funds?

[XLFD]

 Good questions, Willy, but don't blame the MCP because the COLDNews has an even more confusing article on the topic.  I have reviewed state law and can only think that Prosecutor Spaniola used MCL 750.531 to arrive at the life sentence for "safe breaking" in one more far reaching charge for what is at best a crime of opportunity that presented itself to the boy. 

The elements of that law are definitely not met for this crime, but Spaniola wields it like a club to arrive at a favorable plea deal, which in itself, seems rather fair for the larceny if retiring Judge Cooper accepts the recommendation at sentencing.

[stump]

Getting back to the rental inspection fee. Did the city pass some thing that I wasn't aware of? I couldn't find a ordinance or code on this except on Government subsidizes housing projects. How many are there in Ludington? Years ago the city of ludington tried to pass a rental inspection . The open meeting they had it stated that most land lords were against it. Actually most were for it. We felt it was a two way street, If we the land lords were to pay for a safety inspection , we wanted the condition of the rental to be noted also with a check list. The reason for this was when a tenant did damage to the property the city could be called to court to testify to the condition before and after the rental. The city only wanted the money ,no responsibility, end of that discussion. So, where is all that inspection money coming from?

[XLFD]

 The rental inspection ordinance is in the works, it is not in the books yet, Stump.  In the Nov. 10 packet it is mentioned in the budget message a couple of different areas, first on the bottom of page 24 top of p. 25, reproduced here.  Michael Krauch may have been the impetus for this, as the council and him discussed such things in detail at his interview for the Fourth Ward job.  If you make the Buildings & Licenses Committee meetings you may get a heads up on this.

[Willy]

Towns like Ludington are making a big mistake to implement inspections on rental dwellings. This type of code enforcement is only needed in potentially blighted cities where the need to slow down the decay of buildings in an area that is saturated with rental property. Rental inspections are very intrusive and the repairs can be very costly. Also, if the decision is to mandate inspections then a decision must be made as to what will be considered "substandard" conditions. In some cities carpet in the bathroom is considered a code violation. This must be carefully followed to ensure that an overbearing Government does not smother more of the peoples rights. It's a short jump from rental inspections to dwelling resale inspections, something that helped Detroit towards it's decline.